The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-04-16
Temples of Trade.

III new YORK the business Struc-
lures attain a greater height than
anywhere else in the world. Some
ere 100 feet to the roof and others 225
5eet to the top of the towers which
nrmount them; $50 feet is much
higher than the ordinary church
steeple. and 225 feet is much higher
Than any in the United States. with
the exception of perhaps score of
sacred edifices.
The Produce Exchange tower or
eanpaniIe looms 225 feet above an
eient Bowling Green, and that on
The Western Union Building, on
higher ground. seems to reach nearly
he same altitude. The new Petro-
lenm Exchange, to be finished next,
viii cost half a million of dollars and
viii he a much finer building than
re Stock Exchange.
livery resource Is exhausted in the
cunstruction of these palatial busi-
ness Ouildings their foundations are
laid forty feet below the level of the
street ami the masonry is as solid as
that of an old Roman aqueduct.
Where the soil seems to be yielding
piles are driven down they are from
thirty to forty feet in length, being
the trunks Of trees brought from
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The ProduceExchange rests on Is, ,437
of these trees, so that the brokers' are
trading on the top of an old forest.
In these fine structures there are
usually two completed stories below
the street, and above this rise eight
or ten stories more. Rents are enOr-
nous. The buildings pay from to
per cent. and in one case at least, |
understand, 10 ger cent. on the money
invested. The well-knOwn Mills
building on Broad street cost S2,-
100000. Thirteen buildings were
torn down to secure its site. 1t was
erected by d. O. Mills, once a hack
driver and now worth Sl0,000,0 ,000
The total amount of rent derived
from this magnificent building ap-
proximates 100000 a year.
Here are the offices of G. p. Hunt
ington, d. o. Mills and other Cali
fOrnia and transcontinental magnates
as well as such bankers and brokers
AS the Seligmans, Henry CleWs. Pres
ident James Smith, of the Stock EX-
| change, the KisSanS, brothers of Mrs.
| Wm. Vanderbilt, and others. Henry
Ciews, l believe. pays SS square
foot for his splendid offices, the finest
and most elegantly fitted up of any
broker of stocks or grain in the met
ropOlis, and which cost him about
100000 year. This enormous rent
does not seem large to man who
made 100000 last year.
The halls in some of these com
mercial palaces are as wide as some
of the streets of Boston or old italian
cities, and the stairs could accOmmo-
date twenty men abreast. In some
of the larger structures there are six
or eight elevators constantly ascend
ing and descending, and a glance
|
downward seems like } OKing into
the bottomless pit. The Produce EX.
change has ten.
The most costly of all these build.
ings is that of well-known life in
surance company on Broadway neal
Ceder street, which originally cost
! S4,000,000, and a recent extension
costing another million. The signal
service corp here occupies tower on
the roof, and the janitOr has another
and his children have a playground
an acre in extent 1875 feet above roar
ing Broadway. The company pro
vides for tenants a law library O
1000 volumes, and the Insurance
Club and Down Town Club have
THAR rooms there. The president o
the company, by the way, receives 6
salary of S37 900 year.
The building of well-known in
surance company on Nassua street il
particularly notable for its architec
1-toral and artistic splendOr. Th'
marble halls are wainscOted will
marble; the principal rooms are fin
ished with mahogany. The Cham
Der of Commerce has its rooms there
with picture gallery of more thai
sixty merchants, dating back to tn
days of the Colonial government
Some of the more ancient busines
worthless wear the small clothes, EN-
broidered waistcoats and the neck
cloth of the quaint old days of New
York, when such splendid busines
structures as this would have appear